The richest man in the US presidential race for the year 2000 yesterday cast himself as a 21st century American Robin Hood, proposing a new income and asset tax that would soak the rich - and would land him with a $725m (£447m) personal tax bill.

Donald Trump's audacious plan involves a one-off, 14.25% tax on the total net wealth of the top 1% of wealthy Americans. It would raise $5.7 trillion, its author claimed, equivalent to two-thirds of the gross domestic product of the United States and would erase the US national debt, enabling the federal government to slash income taxes for millions of middle-class families.

"I think it would be great for the country," the billionaire property and casino tycoon said yesterday. The comments, if nothing else, generated renewed media attention to a presidential bid that has so far failed to excite public opinion.

The publicity-hungry Mr Trump is flirting with the idea of running for the White House as the candidate of the Reform Party, founded by fellow billionaire Ross Perot.

In a radio conversation with the controversial radio talk-show host Howard Stern, Mr Trump said that his latest supermodel girlfriend, Melania Knauss, was sitting naked next to him throughout the interview. He was parodying an earlier, much-publicised, interview in which Mr Stern claimed the same thing. The interview drew fierce protests from other Reform Party leaders for its lack of taste.

Mr Trump's tax plan envisages a one-off asset and income tax on all individuals and trusts valued at more than $10m. The 14.25% tax would be levied once, and would be payable over a 10-year period.

"It would pay off in its entirety the national debt of $5.7 trillion, as you'd save $200bn a year, so taxes for the middle class would go way down. The estate and inheritance tax [would be] totally wiped out, and the social security system [the US state pension scheme] would be saved," Mr Trump said in a later interview.

Mr Trump said that the economists with whom he had discussed his plan have hailed it as "brilliant", but a panel of independent economists was less confident. "Even talking about it would risk capital flight out of the country," said Andrew Hodge, an economist. "It's pretty confiscatory in terms of property rights."